Folded Flowers
by alpha aquarii
Summary: Ino is a stargazer and a whisper/shouter and knows that people alone can give other people wings. Something in her realizes he will come. NejixIno. Oneshot.


Summary: Ino is a stargazer and a whisper/shouter and knows that people alone can give other people wings. Something in her realizes he will come. ×♥ NejixIno. ♥× Oneshot.

Some introspection on Ino, because she's a person of her own and not a carbon-copy of Sakura. And a bonus of Neji, though he's rather static.

Constructive criticism encouraged. 'Tis the anniversary of my birth today, and a thoughtful crit would make such a great present :-)

×♥ _folded flowers _♥×

Ino is vivacious and passionate. She dances in thunderstorms. She walks barefoot on wet grass. She smiles to strangers and likes the feel of other hands in her own.

She wants to do many unique things in her life, things people seldom do because they're unexpected and quirky. Like decorating her room at midnight, or spending hours shopping for the most exotic-smelling soaps in a shop. Like learning origami from a do-it-yourself book, or like paying a street performer to play one of her favorite songs on a violin. That's what she wants to do.

She wants to cook her father a meal with slices of beef that are curled into delicate rosebud shapes and decorated with tomato garnish, and she wants to wake up at four in the morning to catch a meteor shower through the hazy clouds.

Life, to her, is filled with ever more inspiration as she treads through minds and arranges her flowers. Her existence is unattached and free, like a butterfly in a folded paper forest, searching for a way to make things as light as her life.

So she sings strains of pop songs to the very still, very alive air, and every time she throws a kunai she admires its long, graceful arc. She is fond of bridges and tree frogs and buys lilac purple nail polish not to wear, but out of awe for the sheer prettiness of the color.

In a more critical perspective, Ino is a star or a flower or a sun, bound to outdo or lose herself in such beauty. They are shinobi, after all.

But then again, even killing is an art. Even death has its merits, and she won't let herself be affected by its solemnities (because death is merely the next realm to exist in, and maybe even a better one.) So on she lives, in heightened feeling, and no one can say for sure that her radiance won't last forever.

Is she simple to understand? Is she complicated? She lives by fancy and whim, spontaneity's lover, and isn't concerned with understanding the world, because she likes to leave mysteries some respect. Maybe she's easily manipulated and distorted into vanity and superficiality by others, a trait gleaned from too many ventures into harmful minds—but she always returns to Ino eventually, simple complicated Ino.

She helps others and helps herself to life. And she doesn't know how deeply she conquers people sometimes.

••°••

Tonight she is resting in a tree, listening to the crickets and the rustle of leaves in the surrounding forest. The clouds swing gently in the sky, framing the moon and the warm stars. Light is plentiful, pooling over her and softening her bones.

The air is brimming with fireflies.

Her hands are folded peacefully into her lap, and her eyes are concentrated on nothing in particular. From below her, there is a sound, a soft swishing of leaves. She pauses, considering. The person has light feet, and exudes a gentle aura that complements her current mood.

She smiles, looking down. "Hyuuga Neji."

He gives her a calm stare, the Byakugan already in his eyes.

She knows he is about to train in the moonlight, but invites him up to sit with her anyways. Ino is a stargazer and a whisper/shouter and knows that people alone can give other people wings. Something in her realizes he will come.

Neji looks at her for a heartbeat, and she hopes she looks different from everyone else in his eyes. The tendons standing out in his neck relax, if only slightly, and he ascends the tree, stopping to sit with her on a raised branch close to hers and murmuring that it's a warm night.

Nonchalantly, she rests her head against his shoulder. Neji is a fascination. Ino has never thought about him before, but she thinks about him now, and realizes he's another one of those thing she wants to see exist. Appreciation for beauty, and a desire to experience it. She respects him, and loves him, and thinks he deserves whatever small enjoyment she might be able to give. He's appeared to her now, him: a tumble of grace, a solid angel.

She can tell he is a very steady sort of person, in direct contrast to herself. It doesn't bother her, it intrigues. She likes his marble skin and his veiled eyes.

Ino is a savior, a mind-reader, and still a guesser. But he isn't pushing her off, and when she pulls his calloused hands down to slip into hers he fingers the insides of her wrists, tracing each of her veins and making her feel more brilliant and treasured than the sun.

She smiles, devastatingly white. All of her desires and fancies are fleeting and transient, but for someone who experiences life like she does, a single night is an eternity far longer.

"_Come and live with me."_

The fireflies blink, and Ino knows that each of them gives the world a little more light.

_end._ ♪


End file.
